Literary Terms and Concepts

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Antagonist

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The character who opposes the protagonist or the goals of the protagonist.

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Audience

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The intended target group for a message, regardless of the medium.

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Author's Craft

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Intentional and deliberate use of organizational patterns, text and graphic features, sentence structures, devices, and language to create an effective written work; may vary by genre.

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Author’s Purpose

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The reason an author writes about a particular topic (e.g., to persuade, to entertain, to inform, to explain, to analyze, etc.); the reason an author includes particular details, features, or devices in a work.

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Characterization

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The method by which an author constructs a character by explicitly stating aspects of their personality and appearance (direct characterization) or by revealing aspects through actions, thoughts, speech, other characters, etc. (indirect characterization).

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Climax

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The highest point in the plot where the problem or conflict reaches its peak.

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Conflict

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In literature, conflict refers to the opposition of persons or forces that brings about dramatic action central to the plot of a story. Conflict may be internal, as a psychological conflict within a character, or external.

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Context

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The words, sentences, or passages that precede or follow a specific word, sentence, or passage.

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Editing

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A stage in the writing process when a written text is prepared for an audience by attending to and correcting mechanics, grammar, and spelling.

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Falling Action

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The element of plot structure that takes place after the climax and begins to resolve the conflict(s) of the story before the resolution.